In the video game space, there’s a “fine line” that gamers want developers to walk, and that “fine line” often has to do with how far they push the franchises they love forward. An excellent example of this is The Legend of Zelda series. For decades, the games stood out because of their gameplay loop and stories that many enjoyed. But one thing that started to “wear on gamers” is that the structure was always the same: Forest Temple, Water Temple, Fire Temple, big boss fights, etc. But when Eiji Aonuma and his staff changed that up to grant players more freedom, some people wanted them to return to what came before.
In a chat with IGN, Eiji Aonuma was asked about the call for more “linear games” in the franchise, and the series producer had this to say on the matter:
“Well, I do think we as people have a tendency to want the thing that we don’t currently have, and there’s a bit of a grass is greener mentality. But I also think that with the freedom players have in the more recent games in the series… there still is a set path, it just happens to be the path that they chose.”
Between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, players had true freedom when journeying through Hyrule and the other realms in the titles. That freedom made both games beloved and even earned them numerous awards. But with such accolades, why do some people want them to go backward? As Aonuma notes, it’s more about nostalgia than anything else:
“But also, it’s interesting when I hear people say those things because I am wondering, ‘Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you’re more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?’ But I do understand that desire that we have for nostalgia, and so I can also understand it from that aspect.”
And that is very true. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and it’s something that many people treasure because they grew up on the more linear games in the franchise versus the open-world ones. In fact, there have been only two of these open titles versus many times more in the “linear bracket.” That doesn’t mean Nintendo and Aonuma won’t do the occasional linear title to satisfy that need for nostalgia. But for the immediate future, you should expect more openness in your gaming world as you play Link and possibly Zelda.
